Brand Guidelines

Justice for Youth

A one-sentence, overarching description of the organization’s purpose, what it does and how.

TeamChild upholds the rights of youth involved, or at risk of being involved, in the juvenile justice system to help them secure the education, healthcare, housing and other supports they need to achieve positive outcomes in their lives.

A one-sentence description of how the world would be different if the organization achieved its mission.

Young people have power and experience unconditional belonging at school, at home and in their communities.

The core beliefs and principles that motivate and inspire the organization and its work.

• Youth-centered – We take bold, creative action in support of young people’s self-determination.

• Wholeness – We give and receive real support and care for ourselves, clients and communities. We bring our whole selves to work.

• Accountability – We operate from an anti-oppression foundation. We act with integrity and intentionality and encourage each other to be better every day.

• Anti-racism – We operate with anti-racist principles to undo racism and end all intersecting forms of oppression.

The differentiated space your brand occupies in people’s minds.

TeamChild works to dismantle the unjust and racist systems that target youth through policy advocacy and training, and by empowering youth with services and resources to combat the barriers they face.

Personality (Internal)

The traits that animate attitude, tone, and style and guide how the brand is experienced by its audiences.

• Tenacious: We are fierce advocates for the youth we serve, determined to achieve justice.

• Trustworthy: Young people can rely on us to support them through some of their most challenging moments.

• Caring: We’re here because we sincerely care about young people and want to see them supported.

• Collaborative: We work with young people to ensure we’re achieving the outcome they want, not just the one we think is best.

• Approachable: We use plain language and meet our clients where they are at.

• Abolitionist: We are committed to dismantling systems, not just addressing outcomes.

A three- to four-sentence statement expanding on the mission to describe the why, how, and what of the organization, in the time it takes to ride up or down in an elevator.

TeamChild works to dismantle unjust and racist systems that target youth in Washington state. Our team provides legal services and resources to young people so they can navigate barriers and injustices created by harmful, racist systems. We also support youth advocates in developing a policy agenda to address the pressing issues that they face.

Primary Message: TeamChild stands with youth to address system failures and racism that manifest as barriers in their lives. We see it as our imperative to dismantle the unjust systems that cause lasting harm to young people, and to help young people develop strategies to minimize that harm.

Supporting Messages:

• • We work alongside youth advocates to change the law to protect the rights of young people, particularly young people who are low income, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.

• • We work to dismantle the prison industrial complex and break the cycle of arrest and detention for Washington youth. 

• • We support youth who face systemic barriers with legal services, as well as education, healthcare, and housing resources.

• • We train educators, social workers, government agencies,  and partner organizations to ensure they understand youth rights and how to defend and expand those rights.

Primary Message: Punishment frequently has less to do with fairness and more to do with where you live, the color of your skin, how much money you have, and who is or isn’t around to help you. Punitive approaches make things harder for youth and fail to hold systems accountable for the role they play.

Supporting Messages:

• • Incarceration and exclusion are not effective methods to address or prevent harms, and have been shown to cause significant trauma for young people. Instead, we must invest in restorative programs and diversion opportunities that help young people avoid harmful and ineffective forms of punishment and create a path forward. 

• • Interacting with the carceral system impacts a young person’s ability to persevere and complete their education, find stable housing, achieve consistent employment, and build or maintain strong community connections.

• • Impacted youth disproportionately identify as LGBTQIA and BIPOC; were adopted as younger children or had prior child welfare system involvement; and have mental health and/or developmental disabilities.

Primary Message: Youth are the experts in their own experiences. We put the goals, needs, and safety of youth first in everything we do.

Supporting Messages:

• • We believe in helping young people secure the supports they need to achieve positive outcomes in their lives.

• • Young people must be at the table when developing solutions to problems that impact them and be actively involved in how we implement those changes.

• • Our Youth Advisory Board is building a state-wide youth power movement and guiding the future of legal support for youth in communities. 

• • TeamChild attorneys are advocates and navigators who can walk alongside young people through challenges they face and help them get the outcomes they want.

Primary Message: If you are a young person in a situation that is challenging or unfair, you are not alone. You have rights and we can help you defend those rights.

Supporting Messages:

Our services are completely free to youth who are low income. We may be able to help if you are:

• • Not in school because of suspension, expulsion, truancy, dropping out, or not being allowed to enroll.

• • Struggling at school because you need more support for learning; feel unsafe, bullied, or discriminated against, or can’t focus and be successful because of other parts of your life.

• • Unsafe at home or without a home, including if you are fighting with your family, couch surfing or living on the street, in a bad relationship, or running from foster care.

• • Having trouble getting health care or counseling, including having any unmet or unidentified health care needs, or if services or care has been denied or reduced.

• • In a detention facility because of probation violations, warrants, police or school resource officer attention, truancy or running away, or because your parents won’t help.

• • Incarcerated in a Juvenile Rehabilitation institution or community facility and experiencing unfair treatment, concerned that something was wrong with your trial or sentence, facing a legal barrier, preparing for reentry, or seeking education.

• • Unable to get a job or housing because of a juvenile record, court fines and fees, or a registration requirement.

Primary Message: We advocate for community-driven strategies that nurture and develop the health and well-being of young people, instead of exclusionary practices like incarceration. 

Supporting Messages:

Some of our current legislative priorities include:

• • Ending the overreliance on isolation and restraint in the classroom by providing educators with effective strategies to help students in the case of a behavioral crisis.

• • Helping students and families assert their legal right to seek appropriate educational services for students who have disabilities by holding the school district responsible to demonstrate that their services are sufficient.

• • Eliminating barriers that keep some young adults who are aging out foster care from receiving financial stipends and other support that provide a safety net to help them grow towards independence.

• • Prioritizing behavioral health support in schools, such as: funding for more behavioral health staff; expansion of school-based health centers; mental health training for staff; and a statewide mental health curriculum.

• • Expanding access to deferred adjudications that enable a young person who is accused of a crime to complete a set of rehabilitative steps, be accountable for their mistakes and harm, and keep the case off their record. 

• • Ensuring that youth who are charged with an offense at the age of 17 can have their case heard in juvenile court, even if prosecutors delay filing until the young person turns 18.

• • Addressing repair for people who were impacted by old laws that have been changed to align with brain science and to reduce discrimination.

Primary Message: A challenge you face during adolescence or young adulthood shouldn’t limit your options for the rest of your life. We see you as a whole person — made up of your interests, skills, flaws, challenges, hopes, and dreams.

Supporting Messages:

• • All young people take risks and make mistakes. And what we’ve instinctively known to be true is now proven by research: the brains of young people are still developing. Passion, creativity, impulsiveness, and susceptibility to peer influence are all part of a normally developing young person’s brain.

• • How those risks and mistakes impact a young person’s life usually depends on factors such as their race, neighborhood, and income. Communities that are largely low income and/or People of Color are over-surveilled and over-criminalized.

Primary Message: TeamChild joins a youth-led movement and prioritizes being accountable to youth and to our community.

Supporting Messages: 

• • We partner with other young people, community members, and other agencies and organizations to build a powerful coalition committed to a common vision of antiracism, abolition, and accountability.

• • TeamChild and Disability Rights Washington formed a Youth Advisory Board as part of a state-wide youth power movement to guide the future of legal support for youth in communities. 

• • TeamChild takes our cues from our Youth Advisory board, listening to their experiences and priorities to guide our strategies.

Primary Message: At its core, our work is based in antiracism and abolition. We want to end the racist systems that are set up to target youth who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. 

Supporting Messages:

• • It is not a coincidence that people from marginalized communities and identities are more likely to engage with the carceral system. The current system was developed to surveil, criminalize, and target people who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.

• • While necessary, small reforms are not sufficient to  correct the racist foundations our systems were built upon.

• • In order to achieve equity, we must abolish the systems that harm the young people we serve.